


taking steps is easy (standing still is hard)

by Ariesgirl666



Series: Achilles & Patroclus [5]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Criminals, Alternate Universe - Prison, F/F, Mild Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 05:38:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18046535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariesgirl666/pseuds/Ariesgirl666
Summary: Niylah puts her life on the line protecting new inmate Octavia Blake from a brutal beating on her first day.Five years later, as the new head of the inmates, Octavia returns the favor.





	taking steps is easy (standing still is hard)

In Arkadia State Penitentiary, there are rules.

Niylah’s possibly just put them all on the line by stepping in front of the bleeding girl on the ground.

Ontari sneers at her. She’s a small young woman, with facial tattoos. She was a low-level drug leader on the outside, but with the amount of coke she smuggles in, she’s the queen of this prison. “Step aside, _bitch_.”  
Niylah clenches her fists. She’s never gotten in a fight before. Sure, Ontari and her followers antagonize her, but no more than the others. She’s the only one in the prison that can make half decent moonshine after all. “You’ve initiated her,” Niylah says. “Move along.”

Ontari looks at Gaia, then at Cooper. Gaia’s face is solemn. Cooper spits to the side. Ontari’s mouth is spread in an incredulous smile. “Did you just tell me what to do?”

“m fine,” croaks the girl fromthe floor. Her dark hair is covering her face, and she spits out a tooth. Niylah doesn’t move.

Ontari turns as if to go before slugging Niylah in the jaw, hard. She drops to one knee, then she stands again. Ontari’s smile is disbelieving.

Niylah knows the entire prison yard is watching now. Her bunkmate, Echo, puts one hand on Ontari’s shoulder. “It’s just Niylah,” she tries, but Ontari shrugs her off. “You know who this bitch is?” she snarls, pointing at the girl Niylah’s trying to protect. “Her big brother’s the cop that put me in this shithole! I’m going to fucking kill you, bitch!” she yells. “And if your little girlfriend doesn’t step aside, she can go right down with you.”

Ontari winds up for another punch. Niylah braces herself. Echo does what she does best and fades into the background.

But then the girl on the floor is standing, shoving past Niylah. She’s bleeding badly -the girls had been kicking her in the stomach as she curled up into a ball on the floor before Niylah had gotten there -but she’s still standing. She grabs Ontari’s shoulder and pulls her in for a mockery of a hug and then shoves her back.

Everything happens very quickly.

Gaia and Cooper catch Ontari under the arms. There’s a jagged hole in her uniform and in the flesh underneath. The girl Niylah was protecting is hiding the bloodied shank in her shoe. Cooper is screaming for the guards. The circle of women watching the fight disperse quickly. Niylah is separated from the other woman, as Echo grabs her hand and pulls her inside.

“What were you thinking?” Echo demands that night. Niylah is braiding her hair, sitting on the bottom bunk. Echo’s gaze is hard and unyielding.

“I felt bad for the new girl,” Niylah replies honestly. Echo scoffs. “You’re such a bleeding heart, Niylah. You’re going to get yourself killed.”

 

Niylah is released from prison after she agrees to testify against her boss. Echo even hugs her goodbye. There’s a strange energy in the prison -Gaia and Cooper are clearly struggling to manage the iron grip Ontari had on the place. Echo even hugs her goodbye, but Niylah doesn’t see the small girl with the shank again.

* * *

 

Until she’s thrown back in prison, five years later. In the prison yard, when a familiar group of girls with unfamiliar faces swagger up to greet the new fish -for Niylah is now the new fish -she raises her chin but lowers her eyes in the practiced measure of respect and courtesy.

But something she says in her low even tone must have pissed one of the girls off, because she lands two harsh blows into Niylah’s stomach. Niylah drops to the ground, hard.

And then somebody’s yelling “Stop!”

Niylah looks up. “Echo?” she mumbles. But it’s Kara Cooper, Ontari’s former lackey. Working for a different boss now. “Take her to the Red Queen,” Cooper orders. “This is the girl I’ve been telling you about.”

 

_years later_

In public, Niylah is always by Octavia Blake’s right hand. When Gaia and Cooper are doing their rounds, when Indra and Anya are smoking cigarettes or threatening competitors, when Clarke Griffin comes to negotiate. Niylah never leaves her side. But she’s always silent.

Compared to Octavia Blake of the dark hair and pale skin, a stark contrast of the sort people write in poems, nobody knows quite what she sees in Niylah. Niylah who’s in jail for tax evasion of all things, Niylah of the tawny eyes and the subdued smile. They’re total opposites, but despite that Niylah is under the protection of the Blake woman, and always at her right hand.

 

In their cell, Niylah worships Octavia in every way she’ll allow her to. _Thank you_ , says the kisses she leaves on Octavia’s pale breasts. _I’ll always be loyal_ , says her hands as they spread apart Octavia’s perfect thighs. _I love you_ , says the kisses she presses between Octavia’s legs. And if her mouth on Octavia’s clit makes the Red Queen herself cry and pray and allow herself to be vulnerable in a way she never had been since she’d been locked up in the first place, well

that’s their little secret, isn’t it?

**Author's Note:**

> what??? even??? is this???


End file.
